- Judge bars deportation of witness in ICE gang’s murder of Mexican homebuilder
Source: NBC News
“A federal judge has barred the deportation of a witness in the [murder] of a Mexican homebuilder by federal immigration officers during a traffic stop in Houston. Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego was one of three passengers in a van driven by Lorenzo Araujo Salgado when Araujo Salgado was [murdered] by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on July 7 while they were driving to work at a construction site. … Rojas Pliego must remain in the Southern District of Texas while his habeas petition is pending, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison wrote in an order on Monday. Rojas Pliego says he is being held unconstitutionally in ICE custody, court records show.” (07/22/26)
- Judge rules Trump must hand over financial info in frivolous suit vs. BBC
Source: New York Post
“President Trump must make detailed information about his finances available to attorneys for the BBC in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the venerable UK broadcaster, a Miami judge ruled Tuesday. The president had accused the Beeb of defaming him by deceptively editing his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, ahead of the Capitol riot …. The initial complaint, filed in December, argued that ‘the injury to President Trump’s business and personal reputation … continue into the present, thereby causing massive economic damage to his brand value and … direct harm to his professional and occupational interests, including, without limitation, the value of his brand, properties, and businesses’. On Tuesday, US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett ruled that Trump had to back those claims up …” (07/22/26)
- Bulgaria: Parliament approves US regime’s use of air base to support war on Iran
Source: Seattle Times
“Bulgaria’s Parliament on Wednesday backed a government proposal to allow the U.S. military to use an air base in the Balkan country to support U.S. operations in the Middle East, while some expressed concern about becoming involved in the Iran war. The Trump administration has faced pushback from certain other countries in the European Union over the use of air bases in support of its war with Iran. Legislators in Bulgaria voted 136-13, with two abstentions, to allow up to eight U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft along with 250 personnel and supporting equipment at Bezmer Air Base from Friday to Oct. 1. No further approvals are needed.” (07/22/26)
- US House passes bill to fund regime through midterm elections
Source: United Press International
“House Republicans pushed through a spending bill that would fund the government through early December in an effort to avoid a shutdown just before the midterm elections. The bill, which passed on Tuesday, is similar to what they would pass just before the Sept. 30 deadline. It passed 220-205 almost along party lines, though six Democrats in battleground districts voted for it, and one Republican [Thomas Massie, R-KY)] voted against it. … It’s not clear if it has much of a chance to pass the Senate. Republican leader Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday that he would try to get a spending bill to a vote before the five-week recess in August. But it may have to wait until lawmakers return in September.” (07/22/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/22/house-spending-bill-stopgap/3371784726348/
- Trump’s Threats To Yank Broadcast Licenses Are Part of a Speech-Chilling Intimidation Campaign
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum“Imagine how Republicans would react if a Democratic president reflexively threatened to yank the broadcast licenses of TV stations because he did not like their news coverage or programming decisions. President Donald Trump has been doing that since his first term, and he did it again last week after ABC and NBC declined to offer live coverage of his speech about election security. These threats are part of an intimidation campaign that has already yielded striking concessions to Trump’s whims. His weaponization of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is designed to chill constitutionally protected speech, establishing a precedent that Republicans may regret when their opponents take control of the White House. Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed FCC chairman, seems to think broadcasters have a legal obligation to please the president.” (07/22/26)
- Return of the guilds
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie“There has been a quiet expansion of ‘must be certified’ rules across trades and services marking a backward step toward ‘guild’ rules, and therefore marking a setback for the free exchange of goods and services. The pattern is real, and it rhymes with guild practice. Modern licensing schemes rarely announce themselves as guilds, but they perform the same function. They restrict entry, they raise the cost of setting up in a trade, and they hand incumbents a legal shield against new competition. The language has changed from ‘guild’ to ‘professional standards’ or ‘consumer protection,’ but the effect is often the same gate.” (07/22/26)
- The new war on political satire
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Athena Rem“Televangelist Jerry Falwell once confessed in an interview to drunken sex with his unconscious mother in an outhouse. Except it wasn’t a real interview. It was a fake Campari ad in a 1983 issue of adult magazine Hustler. Falwell sued the magazine and its publisher Larry Flynt for emotional distress, libel, and invasion of privacy. … Flynt won the case, Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988), because parody is not a statement of fact made with ‘actual malice’ and because print media, shows, or any other publications can generally criticize public figures under the First Amendment. Yet such critical speech is under fire today more than ever before.” (07/22/26)
- The State’s Moral Boundaries
Source: Law & Liberty
by Max Skjönsberg“[Wilhelm von] Humboldt’s precise criticism of paternalist government was threefold. First, when the state treats citizens like children, it denies them their essential humanity, which he regarded as consisting in the freedom to choose and develop in their own manner. Second, by restricting behavior, the state inhibits various experiences and diversity from flourishing, which he, like Mill, viewed as critical for the development of civilization. Third, paternalism would inevitably weaken human beings’ initiative and independence, which would not only harm individuals but also the progress of society.” (07/22/26)
- Hosting a prayer at your house? You might need a permit.
Source: Washington Post
by Michael A Helfand“The Supreme Court agreed last month to hear a case that asks a remarkable question: Can the government require a homeowner to obtain a permit before inviting friends to his house for prayer? Grand v. City of University Heights centers on an Orthodox Jewish minyan — a prayer quorum consisting of at least 10 adult men — but the legal principles at stake extend well beyond one faith. The case will arrive at the court after years of neighborhood intrigue and municipal politics, where attempts to convene a minyan in a private home devolved into allegations of anti-Jewish animus, police surveillance, zoning hearings and cease and desist orders.” (07/22/26)
- America must free its airwaves before China pulls ahead
Source: Fox News
by Steve Forbes & Stephen Moore“Washington rarely discovers an economic policy that promotes investment, strengthens national security, improves services for consumers and raises billions of dollars for the Treasury without imposing a new tax. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s newly announced ‘super band’ spectrum auction manages to do all four. Spectrum may be invisible, but it is among the most valuable resources in the modern economy. It carries phone calls, financial transactions, emergency communications, industrial data, streaming video and the growing volume of information moving between connected devices. … Auctions offer the quintessentially American solution: Free up and use markets.” [editor’s note: Not really, since these auctions are based on the fiction that the US regime owns the frequencies being auctioned – TLK] (07/26/26)
- Quandaries That Should Not Exist
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M Vance“No American is entitled to health care or health insurance that he does not pay for. No American should be forced to pay for or subsidize the health care or health insurance of any other American. Health care and health insurance are services that can and should be provided on the free market just like other services. No American is entitled to eat or drink anything unless he pays for it or some other American voluntarily pays for it or gives it to him. All food aid should be privately given and privately funded. No American is entitled to welfare payments at the expense of any other American. No income should be transferred from one American to another.” (07/22/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/quandaries-that-should-not-exist/
- Money Is Not Debt
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Peter C Earle“Exploring how a popular phrase conflates monetary creation, accounting conventions, legal liabilities, and the economic nature of money itself.” (07/22/26)
- LA Must Stop Bidding for Mega Sports Events
Source: Common Dreams
by Cerianne Robertson“LA’s World Cup experience reinforces concerns about the city’s ongoing efforts to bring one sports mega event after another to the region. Hosting major events always gobbles up public resources that could otherwise be directed toward pressing needs, while host cities under pressure to sparkle on camera often violate residents’ rights. The people paid to organize these big events, like [Paul] Krekorian, love to repeat myths about mega-event benefits while pooh-poohing questions about the costs.” (07/22/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/la-stop-bidding-for-sports
- What Trump doesn’t know, or want you to know, about elections
Source: USA Today
by Chris Brennan“It didn’t take long for President Donald Trump’s latest conspiracy rant about elections, this time dressed up like a national address on July 16, to start falling apart. Trump’s claims about China meddling in American elections flopped, even as the documents he declassified inadvertently confirmed that Russia tried to influence our presidential elections in his favor. Ultimately, Trump offered zero proof that any votes had been changed in the 2016, 2020 or 2024 elections. But what really stood out is just how much Trump showed us he doesn’t know about how elections are run in America. And this, too, matters – he doesn’t seem at all interested in learning the ins and outs of elections, even as he has spent a decade trying to destabilize America’s confidence in how we vote.” (07/22/26)
- The Top Gun: Maverick Theory of Pete Hegseth
Source: The Atlantic
by Missy Ryan“Maverick is a seasoned military man who resolutely refuses to grow up. He remains stuck in the same rank he has occupied for years, attached to the same mentality, concerns, and priorities. Although three decades have passed, he hasn’t progressed, instead spending his time on rebellious flying, seaside sports, and drinking in dive bars. His is an arrested development. The most unrealistic aspect of this portrayal is that, in 2026, that profile would make Mav not a superannuated flight instructor, but secretary of defense.” (07/22/26)
- Washington Can’t Afford to Let the US Lose the Open-Source AI War
Source: American Greatness
by Julio Rivera“The greatest danger isn’t that China builds a better AI model. It’s that China builds the AI platform the rest of the world decides to use. Those are two very different contests.” (07/22/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/07/22/washington-cant-afford-to-let-the-us-lose-the-open-source-ai-war/
- The Misguided Panic About Superintelligence
Source: Persuasion
by Jerry Kaplan“A recent Persuasion article by Andrea Miotti argues that ‘We Need an International Treaty to Ban Superintelligence.’ His argument—like that of many others in what we might call doomer circles—is that large-scale Generative AI systems, like ChatGPT and Claude, are fast approaching a sharp transition from their current trajectory to runaway superintelligence, at which point they may escape human control, reprogram themselves to adopt new, self-directed goals, and possibly wipe out humanity entirely. Everyone is familiar with this scenario because it’s a persistent trope of science fiction. We are constantly exposed to images of robots running amok, a staple of the modern entertainment ecosystem. … Unfortunately, the doomers seriously misrepresent the actual nature and risks of advanced AI, and often propose solutions that are both unrealistic and ineffectual.” (07/22/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-misguided-panic-about-superintelligence
- Does MLB’s Pride Night policy violate the First Amendment?
Source: Expression
by Athena Rem“Currently, 29 out of 30 Major League Baseball teams host an annual ‘Pride Night’ celebration in June, featuring rainbow versions of the typical logo on caps and jerseys. … players always have the option to revert back to the standard uniform instead, but they may not alter their uniforms themselves in any aspect. Despite this ban, three San Francisco Giants players used Pride Night 2026 as an opportunity to protest. … In response, MLB formally warned the implicated players that they may not ‘write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment.’ … At first blush, MLB’s move might appear to be at odds with the freedoms of speech and free exercise guaranteed by the First Amendment. But the First Amendment bars the government from restricting our rights to speak and worship freely … Private employers have expansive discretion to limit an employee’s on-the-clock expression, like the players’ alteration of their caps.” (07/22/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/does-mlbs-pride-night-policy-violate
- Not Even Israelis Are Willing To Die For Israel
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone“Israelis are happy for Americans to die for Israel, but they are unwilling to put their own lives on the line for the Zionist project.” (07/22/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/07/22/not-even-israelis-are-willing-to-die-for-israel/
- Gracearchy with Jim Babka, episode 163
Source: Gracearchy with Jim Babka
“Libertarian Chair Evan McMahon; The Coming 10x Bigger Party.” (07/22/26)
- Rising, 07/22/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on leftist commentator Kyle Kulinski suggesting that the war with Iran will make it harder for terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.” (07/22/26)
- Reason Interview: Zion Lights
Source: Reason
“We’ve Been Wrong About Nuclear Power.” (07/22/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/07/22/weve-been-wrong-about-nuclear-power/